The invention relates to a new type of use for a ceramic composition to protect glassware from corrosion during washing and/or rinsing cycles of a dishwasher, compositions intended for use in a dishwasher for the aforesaid purpose, and a method of inhibiting the corrosion of glassware during washing and/or rinsing cycles of a dishwasher.
The problem of glassware corroding during washing and/or rinsing cycles of a dishwasher has long been known. Current opinion is that the problem of corrosion in glassware is the result of two separate phenomena. On the one hand, the corrosion is clearly due to minerals from the glass composition accompanied by hydrolysis of the silicate network. On the other hand, silicate material is released from the glass. After several washes in a dishwasher, both phenomena can cause damage to glassware, such as cloudiness, scratches, streaks, and the like.
Silicate compounds are known to be effective in preventing minerals from being released from the glass composition, but on the other hand can tend to increase the separation of silicate material at the surface of the glass.
Various proposals have been put forward as a means of dealing with the problems described above.
One approach is to use zinc, either in metallic form (U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,820) or in the form of zinc compounds. The use of soluble zinc salts as a means of preventing the corrosion of glassware in dishwasher cleansers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,255,117, for example.
Because of a number of disadvantages inherent in using soluble zinc salts (in particular the formation of a precipitate of insoluble zinc salts with other ions in the washing or rinsing water), European patent applications EP 0 383 480, EP 0 383 482 and EP 0 387 997 propose the use of insoluble zinc compounds as a means of inhibiting corrosion of glassware in automatic dishwashers. Specifically, the insoluble zinc salts proposed are zinc silicate, zinc carbonate, zinc oxide, basic zinc carbonate (approximately: Zn2(OH)2CO3), zinc hydroxide, zinc oxalate, zinc monophosphate, Zn3 (PO4)2), and zinc pyrophosphate Zn2(P2O7)). If using zinc salts of this type in granular cleansing compounds, the insoluble zinc compound is specified as having a maximum particle size of less than 1.7 mm (EP 0 383 482), while a mean particle size of less than 250 μm is specified for the insoluble zinc compound used in a liquid dishwasher composition (EP 0 383 480 and EP 0 387 997).
The disadvantage of the prior art essentially resides in the fact that, because the zinc compounds are not readily soluble or are insoluble, it is difficult to ensure that a sufficient quantity of active agent will be present in the washing or rinsing liquid to protect glassware from corrosion. Furthermore, in view of the high specific density of the insoluble zinc compounds listed, problems of separation arise with powdered mixtures or settlement in the case of liquid mixtures. Finally, all of the known compositions are intended to be active during only one specific stage of the washing cycle, i.e., if admixed with a granular cleanser composition during the washing cycle or if admixed with a liquid rinsing composition with the rinsing cycle. None of the known compositions has the capacity to become and remain active starting from the washing cycle and/or one of the intermediate rinsing cycles onwards